Review: Mark Knopfler brings his neverending story to Montreal

Dressed in clothes more appropriate for yard work than a concert hall, Mark Knopfler seemed to simply materialize on stage in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts during the opening moments of his sold-out show Wednesday night. No one, it seems, would be less comfortable with the grand entrance.

But if it’s hard to think of a veteran rock star less representative of the stereotype, it’s an even bigger challenge to imagine many whose music so thoroughly tells you what you need to know about them.

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Gallery: Mark Knopfler at Place des Arts

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker. Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker. Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker.Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker. Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker. Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker.Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker.Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Mark Knopfler performs at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts, on Wednesday October 7, 2015, in Montreal, Quebec. The former Dire Straits leader is on tour promoting his latest disc, Tracker.Giovanni Capriotti/Montreal Gazette

Ushered on stage by Howlin’ Wolf’s recording of I’m the Wolf, Knopfler, 66, and band turned the energy and volume right up with the jungle rhythm and choppy minor chords of Broken Bones, from his latest album, Tracker. The disc (his best since Kill to Get Crimson was released eight years ago) was, sadly, represented by only three songs in the set list — but with a stellar catalogue to choose from, it would have been difficult to argue with the idea of a career-spanning set.

The slamming four-on-the-floor backbeat of Corned Beef City, the evening’s second salvo, was made more irresistible by Jim Cox’s rock n’ roll boogie woogie piano solo.

At the heart of Knopfler’s sound, however, are two things that have nothing to do with Jerry Lee Lewis: the poignant, Celtic-flavoured folk-rock melodies that frame some of his best material — like Privateering and the haunting Mighty Man, which evokes the traditional Irish classic She Moved Through the Fair — and his incomparable guitar phrasing.

Whether Knopfler is bending the strings in short bursts or stretching out, as he did in Hill Farmer and Speedway at Nazareth — a dramatic highlight near the end of the two-hour performance — his playing is always economical, lyrical and deeply satisfying. His carefully-constructed solo in Sultans of Swing, notably, is so burned into his audience’s collective memory that when he hits the song’s high-stringed crescendo, the moment is greeted as enthusiastically as a favourite number in its own right.

Knopfler’s eight supporting musicians were also exceptional. With a core rock-band foundation augmented by whistles, pipes, stringed instruments and keyboards, the musicians brought shading and grace to the proceedings. An extended sojourn that evolved out of Marbletown, for example, was filled with precious exchanges between band members.

Early in the concert, Knopfler good-naturedly informed the audience that they could feel free to shout out requests. “But we won’t take a bloody bit of notice,” he added, smiling. Not everyone seemed to have heard him, though: a few kept yelling for favourites nonetheless, inspiring nostalgia for the good old days when you weren’t allowed to bring your booze inside the hall.

Well-oiled malcontents aside, few could have felt left out. Fans of Knopfler’s soundtrack work were treated to Father and Son as well as the brief She’s Gone. Those seeking tried-and-true Dire Straits classics were rewarded not only with Sultans but with the still-beautiful Romeo and Juliet, the warm familiarity of Your Latest Trick, with its memorable saxophone hook, and So Far Away, the opening song on the 30-million-selling Brothers In Arms. That commercial peak for Knopfler’s old band, incidentally, celebrates three decades next year.

Like Van Morrison’s work, Knopfler’s often seems like one long song. And his kitchen-sink dramas, with their revolving-door casts of hard-luck loners, fading heroes and star-crossed lovers, feel like part of a black and white film, one filled with bittersweet regret.

We’ve been watching and listening for 37 years. And we’re not ready for the credits to roll.

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